审计准则

Standards are established to measure thequality of performance of individuals andorganizations. Standards relating to theaccounting profession concern themselveswith CPA professional qualities, with thejudgment exercised by CPAs in theperformance of their professionalengagements, and with a CPA firm's qualitycontrol.制定准则是为了衡量个人和组织的工作质量。与会计职业相关的准则涉及注册会计师自身的执业质量、执业过程中的职业判断，以及会计师事务所的质量控制问题。1.Generally accepted auditing sta…     

ON THE MEASUREMENT OF AUDITING STANDARDS

This study analyzes whether it is appropriate to use the percentage of qualified opinions issued by an auditor as a measure of his auditing standards, as is often done. It points out that incentives exist for auditors to specialize by auditing standards, and for clients to self-select on this dimension. As a result, even if auditing standards affect the propensity to issue qualified opinions, the observed percentages of qualified opinions will not necessarily reflect differences in auditing standards. This proposition is supported empirically with US data. A sample of auditors was split between a "higher standard" and a "lower standard" category based on the percentage of qualified opinions issued. After controlling for client firm size, leverage, systematic risk and "unexpected" earnings, auditing standard category is found to have no significant relation with firm-specific stock returns.     

CLINICAL AUDIT,GUIDELINES AND STANDARDS: A PRODUCTIVE RELATION FOR MANAGING CLINICAL PRACTICES

This paper contributes to the knowledge about the process of standardisation within the domain of medicine. Standardisation has become an important form of governance and co‐ordination, and there is limited empirical knowledge about its nature and consequences ( Brunsson et al., 2000 ). This paper aims to explore the development, circulation and standardisation process of a specific clinical audit programme: the Scottish Hip Fracture Audit. This audit started as a local initiative and now has developed into a sophisticated arena (Sahlin‐Andersson, 2000) which provides Scottish hospitals with monthly ‘real‐time reports’ outlining their performance against Scottish government targets. The paper argues that the interrelation between clinical audit and evidence‐based medicine (EBM) can become a ‘productive relation’ (Mykhalovskiy, 2003), that opens up spaces of intervention, in which the clinical communities engage with processes of change of clinical procedures, and in these spaces, clinicians and managers are in a position to refine clinical practice and service organisation, to reflect upon their own actions and to allow insight into the rationalities of their work (Berg, 1997).     

GAME THEORY AND THE AUDITOR'S PENALTY REGIME

This paper models the audit as a cooperative game played by the auditor and auditee within a penalty regime imposed by a regulatory authority. The paper investigates the relationship between the penalties set by the regulator and the jointly agreed strategy of the auditor and auditee, and discusses how the penalty regime might be employed so as to induce a particular strategic outcome such as high effort levels on the part of the auditee and/or auditor.     

THE IMPACT OF BOARD COMPOSITION AND OWNERSHIP ON AUDIT QUALITY: EVIDENCE FROM LARGE UK COMPANIES

This paper examines the impact of board composition and ownership structure on audit quality in the UK prior to the adoption of the recommendations of the Committee on the Financial Aspects of Corporate Governance ([5]). In this study I use audit fees as a proxy for audit quality and seek to investigate whether the proportion of non-executives, the extent of managerial ownership or ownership by large blockholders influences the extent of auditing, and consequently, the audit fee. Utilizing data from a sample of 402 quoted companies I find that the proportion of non-executive directors has a significant positive impact on audit fees. I also find that audit fees are negatively related to the proportion of equity owned by executive directors. I find no evidence that ownership by large blockholders (institutional or otherwise) or CEO/chairman duality has a significant impact on audit fees. Overall, the findings suggest that non-executive directors encourage more intensive audits as a complement to their own monitoring role while the reduction in agency costs expected through significant managerial ownership results in a reduced need for intensive auditing.     

AUDIT PRICING, AUDITOR CHANGES, AND THE WINNER'S CURSE

This paper presents a two-period model of the audit market. In the first period, all auditors have symmetric information and adopt identical bidding strategies. In the process of performing the audit, the incumbent auditor learns the actual costs, thereby becoming informationally advantaged in the second period. In the model presented, unlike earlier ones found in the literature, audit costs include both a component common to all potential auditors and a private component that varies across auditors. The common component of auditor costs gives rise to a ‘winner's curse’ scenario. A winner's curse is said to exist because a non-incumbent bidder who does not take into account the superior information of the incumbent would be expected to generate a loss from winning the audit engagement. The adjustment of bids by sophisticated auditors to compensate for the winner's curse is shown to play a significant role in determining the degree of low-balling (first-period price cuts) and auditor turnover. In the model, low-balling is not associated with loss of audit quality. Additionally, it is shown that it is in the interest of the client to structure audit selection in a manner that gives rise to low-balling.     

LITIGATION RISK FOR AUDITORS AND THE RISK SOCIETY

The auditing industry has mounted a global campaign to reduce its liability. In Canada, it is attempting to change from a doctrine of joint and several liability to proportionate liability, to have the Federal government legislate a statutory cap on liability, or to have the Provincial governments approve the establishment of Limited Liability Partnerships. These initiatives are consistent with the proposals of the CPA firms in the US and the CA firms in the UK. This cross-national trend suggests that a global theory of society is needed to analyze the consequences of audit risk. This paper uses the “risk society” model proposed by Beck to understand why the audit industry focuses on reducing exposure to liability, rather than on improving the quality of audits. Beck's theory of “reflexive modernization” provides an analysis of the so-called “liability crisis” that attempts to overcome the institutional construction offered by the auditing industry. The paper recognizes that it is very difficult for observers outside of the large auditing firms to judge the real risks of audits and to develop alternative public policy options. Ideally, we should be able to evaluate litigation in a modern audit environment. However, the audit firms are not required to disclose sufficient information about their costs to determine the real impact. Meanwhile, professional groups are lobbying hard for changes that will reduce auditors risk without addressing the root causes of audit failures.     

AUDITOR CHOICE AND AUDIT FEE DETERMINANTS

An analytical model predicts that cross-sectionally (1) the marginal cost of auditor quality is inversely related to the strength of client companies' internal control. (2) In the short run, clients with stronger control, lower business risk, or less complex audits choose higher quality auditors; but whether they pay higher audit fees is indeterminate. (3) In the long run, client companies have both lower quality auditors and weaker controls as risk or complexity increase, so less precise financial reporting is expected from them. (4) The effects of risk and complexity on fees are indeterminate, because the price and quantity components of fees tend to vary inversely as risk or complexity change. The predictions are consistent with findings that have been viewed as empirical anomalies.     

PERFORMANCE AUDITING AND THE NARRATING OF A NEW AUDITEE IDENTITY

This paper analyzes how performance auditing affects the auditee in different and sometimes unexpected ways. On the basis of a detailed case study of the Danish Ministry of Transport's encounter with performance auditing we argue that performance audit is a practice that generates multiple effects and that some of these effects can be characterized as a reconfiguration of the organizational identity of the auditee. In this process, accountabilities are reformulated and reallocated which sometimes lead to ‘blame games’ and strong feelings of discomfort. We draw on actor‐network theory and a narrative approach to study how performance audit reports produce narratives that picture new possible identities that the auditee in question must take into consideration. We argue that auditee identities are partly shaped by relations to ‘significant others’, such as the National Audit Office, the politicians and the press who all give accounts of who the Ministry is and ought to be. Furthermore, we argue that accounting and management information systems are enrolled as important ‘nonhuman’ actors that enable the suggested identity positions.     

VALUE FOR MONEY AUDITING - AN INTERNATIONAL REVIEW AND COMPARISON

This paper considers the application of value for money auditing in six countries. It is hoped thereby to instil a greater realization of what is done and what might be done. Approaches vary, they can be structured or highly unstructured. Some countries offer their auditors less restrictive mandates than others. To date, despite a wealth of international practical experience, no standard approach has been adopted which adequately covers all the varied aspects of value for money auditing.     

QUALIFIED AUDIT REPORTS,FIELD DEPENDENCE COGNITIVE STYLE,AND THEIR EFFECTS ON DECISION MAKING

This paper reports the findings of an experiment designed to investigate the effects of an unqualified versus an “except for” qualified audit report on subjects' share price estimates and the moderating role of cognitive style in this relationship. Using ANOVA experimental design, 34 subjects were administered identical financial information on a hypothetical company except that 17 subjects received a qualified auditors' opinion and the other 17 received an unqualified auditors' opinion. In addition, the subjects in each group were classified as either field dependent or field independent on the basis of their scores in the Embedded Figures Test. Results showed that the “except for” audit qualification affected share price estimates and field dependence cognitive style interacted with qualified/unqualified audit opinion to also affect subjects' share price estimates.     

AUDITOR INDEPENDENCE,AUDIT QUALIFICATIONS AND THE PROVISION OF NON-AUDIT SERVICES: A NOTE

This paper presents the results of a study designed to investigate the question of whether there is the potential for an appearance of auditor independence impairment when higher levels of non-audit services are provided to audit clients. This question was investigated by analysing the audit reports for a sample of publicly listed companies over the period 1980 to 1989. The results of the analysis indicate that the auditors of companies not receiving an audit qualification of any type over the period derived a significantly higher proportion of their remuneration from non-audit services fees than the auditors of companies receiving at least one audit qualification. This result is driven by the non-Top 100 companies in the research sample. These findings could suggest that auditors are less likely to qualify a given company's financial statements when higher levels of non-audit services fees are derived. This could convey the view that the independence of the auditors of these companies may have been compromised.